Walking Away

• Who wrote Walking Away?

  Cecil Day-Lewis
• In which era was Walking Away written?

  Modern
• What is Walking Away about?

  A father watching his son grow up and go to school
• It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day - /

  A sunny day with leaves just turning,
• The touch-lines new-ruled - since I watched you play /

  Your first game of football, then, like a satellite /

  Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away
• Behind a scatter of boys. I can see /

  You walking away from me towards the school
• With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free /

  Into a wilderness, the gait of one /

  Who finds no path where the path should be.
• That hesitant figure, eddying away /

  Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem,
• Has something I never quite grasp to convey /

  About nature’s give-and-take - the small, the scorching /

  Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay.
• I have had worse partings, but none that so /

  Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly/

  Saying what God alone could perfectly show -
• How selfhood begins with a walking away, /

  And love is proved in the letting go.
• What is significant about the following line: “It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day -“?


  The poet is very specific about the time which emphasises how well he remembers it
• What is significant about the following line: “The touch-lines new-ruled - since I watched you play”?

  There is broken syntax and several portmanteau which implies the voice is upset
• What techniques are used in the following phrase and what is the effect: “like a satellite, / Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away”?

  Simile - compares son to a satellite which emphasises that he is far away

  Enjambment - ‘Wrenched’ is at the start of the line to emphasise it
• What is significant about the word “Wrenched”?

  It is a violent action suggesting that the son was forcefully taken
• Who is the “orbit” in Walking Away?

  The father/voice
• What is significant about the word ”drifting”?

  It suggests a confused and lost action
• What is significant about the following lines:

  .

  'Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away/

  .

  Behind a scatter of boys.'?

  Enjambment between stanzas - emphasises the word 'drifting'
• What is significant about the following line: 'You walking away from me towards the school'?

  It includes the title
• What type of word is used in the following line and what is the effect: 'With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free'?

  The word is 'half-fledged', it is a portmanteau and it emphasises the unsureness of the boy
• What technique is used in the following line and what is the effect: '...set free / Into a wilderness,'?

  Natural imagery - emphasises that this is new territory for the boy and implies he is going into a new phase in his life
• What techniques are used in the following line and what is the effect: 'Who finds no path where the path should be.'?

  Repetition - repetition of 'path' emphasises the lack thereof

  Plosive consonants - emphasises the word to highlight its importance
• What is significant about the word 'eddying'?

  The word 'eddying' means to move in a circular motion which implies that the boy is lost and not sure where to go
• What technique is used in the following line and what is the effect: 'Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem,'?

  Simile (natural imagery) - compares the boy to a 'winged seed', emphasises he is growing and moving on to the next stage in his life
• What is significant about the word 'loosened'?

  It is a more gentle verb than the previous verbs used
• What technique is used in the following line and what is the effect: '...- the small, the scorching / Ordeals'?

  Sibilance - emphasises the words 'small' and 'scorching' to imply that although it is a small step, it is a difficult one for both the parent and the child
• What is meant by the phrase: 'Ordeals which fire one's irresolute clay'?

  It has two meanings: the task of going to school will make the boy stronger. The task of letting the boy go will make the parent stronger.
• What is significant about the word 'Gnaws'?

  It is a violent, graphic verb which emphasises the pain the parent felt and still feels - often gnawing is a slow process which implies that the pain is more of an ache rather than a sharp pain
• What is the following phrase a reference to: 'Saying what God alone could perfectly show -'?

  The Easter story where God allowed Jesus to be crucified
• What are the key themes in Walking Away?

  Family relationships, getting older and memory
• What is significant about the voice of the poem?

  The first person narrator emphasises that the poem is about personal experience - it was dedicated to the poet's first son
• What is significant about the form of the poem?

  The enjambment and caesura mimics natural speech